Little is know about the life of Edmond Willis. There is even a question if he was related to John Willis. Most sources say there was no relationship between the two men or the relationship is unknown.
Edmond Willis published the first edition of “An Abbreviation of Writing by Character” in 1618. This edition was based on John Willis' Shorthand system, and some authors consider it only a slight modification of John Willis' system. While this is true for the overall system, Edmond Willis did completely change the alphabet signs.
In 1627, Edmond Willis published the second edition. The alphabet was basically the same as the 1618 alphabet with only the signs for O, R, and T being altered. It also contained signs for double and triple consonants that began or ended words, prefixes and suffixes, and about 200 arbitraries.
1627 Alphabet:
Edmond Willis also had signs for CH, SH, and TH in the 1627 alphabet:
ch
sh
th
1627 Vowel Expression:
Vowels were expressed by “Vowel Mode” which is the disjoining of a succeeding consonant and placing it against the preceding consonant in a particular position. Different position represent different vowels.
Resources:
1. The Bibliography of Shorthand by John Westby-Gibson (1887)
2. Historical Account of the Rise and Fall of Shorthand by James Henry Lewis (1816)
3. “The History of Short-hand Writing” by Matthias Levy (1862)
4. “Shorthand: A Scientific Magazine” Vol. 3 by Shorthand Society (1889).
(Search for "Edmond Willis')
5. A History of Shorthand by Isaac Pitman (1891)
6. "Shorthand." Chambers's Encyclopedia. (1892. Vol. 9, page 414)
7. “A Critical and Historical Account of the Art of Shorthand” The National Stenographer
(Nov 1882)
8. Story of British Shorthand by Edward Butler. 1951. Pgs. 25, 26, and 204.
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